This disclosure relates to feeders, namely apparatus for feeding animals selected from domestic pets, fish, chickens and wild birds.
Pet feeders which provide one or more meals for a pet at selected times, have proved popular with pet owners as they allow the owner to feed their pet at times when it may not be possible for the owner to be home to feed them directly. The quantity of food supplied is chosen by the pet owner. A pet feeder specifically designed for dispensing dry feed to pets, cage birds, fish or wild birds over an extended interval and in metered amounts is described in British Patent No: 2476996 Pet Mate Ltd.
While this pet feeder has proven successful, problems sometimes occur. When the feeder is used for intelligent pets such as cats and dogs these animals may learn that if they nudge the feeder or discharge outlet more feed may sometimes fall through the discharge opening. If the pellets are small enough, more food may fall through the discharge outlet with each nudge until the feeder is empty. Additionally feed in the discharge outlet is exposed to the air and so may become damp. This, in turn, may lead to the feed clogging the discharge outlet. This is a particular problem when the feeder is used to feed fish.
We have found that providing a simple shutter that slides into place to cover the discharge outlet leads to further problems wherein food pellets may get caught in the shutter mechanism and may prevent the shutter from closing properly or prevent the feeder from working correctly. If the shutter becomes jammed the feeder may become damaged. In addition to damaging the feeder, Applicant has found that intelligent animals may still be able to extract feed from the discharge outlet.
EP0514291 Rena France discloses a feeder for aquatic life that fits on to an aquarium edge, which feeder adopts a different approach, but still does not solve the problems. A screw auger is mounted in a v-shaped trough beneath and open to a hopper proper to transport fish food from the trough through a cylindrical passage with radius just larger than the auger into a generally cylindrical discharge chamber, the radius of which is larger than that of the passage. From the discharge chamber the feed drops into the aquarium through an opening which is opened in the course of each rotation of the auger by a cylindrical shutter fixed to the shaft of the auger and surrounding the discharge chamber externally. With this configuration, because the cross-section of the cylindrical passage is substantially less than that of the v-shaped trough, there will be a tendency for feed to clog at the entrance to the passage. Also, the leading edge of the shutter will tend to carry feed present in the discharge opening into the gap between the shutter and the outer wall of the discharge chamber as the shutter rotates, causing the shutter to jam. Any feed retained between the shutter and the discharge chamber may spoil.